orange trees

[rotciv]

I have 1 lemon and three orange trees in the backyard. They are about 15ft high and produce a lot of fruit. Can anyone advise me how to prune them and when is the proper time as they have become a mass of branches and leaves. i don't know if temperature has anything to do with it as over here it's as if we are still in early summer with temperatures at the 16 to 20 deg celsius range.Pls bear with me as i know absolutely nothing about gardening.

[Geewizz]

Over here we can only grow them under glass. This is a question that would be more suited to a local than to a UK DIY forum.

[thescruff]

http://www.ehow.com/how_4510887_prune-orange-trees.html

http://www.harvestseeds.com/articles/13 ... Trees.html

[rotciv]

Found your links rather helpful Scruff,and i will take geewiz's advice and ask a local gardener to find out the proper time to do the pruning. Hopefully i will still have some oranges next season

[morgan123]

No need to prune citrus trees at all. If your trees are young they may need some extra time to mature to a good size for fruiting. If they are full size then they are not happy. Citrus are gross feeders. They like regular fertilizing and lots of water. If they are flowering and not setting fruit, this can be caused by lack of water. they actually set a minute fruit but if water is not available at the right time they throw the fruit off. If you provide sun, food and water you should be right. You can also buy fertilizers to encourage fruiting, but a good citrus food should be all you need

[Laird]

There is no need to prune citrus trees. Just give them plenty of water and once a year some fertilizer. They'll look after themselves.
I lived in the Med region for years and had lemon and orange trees in the garden, giving more fruit than could be used. Lemon trees are especially work free and great to have in the garden. There's always lemon handy for a G&T.
All I ever did was to cut off any stray branches that might have got in my face when mowing the lawn.